


And I Waited For So Long, To Be Where I Belong

by Lazy_Sunsets



Series: With Everything that Falls Apart [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fear, Introspection, Loneliness, during v8 (RWBY), identity crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28613076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy_Sunsets/pseuds/Lazy_Sunsets
Summary: Nora had almost forgot what it was like to feel alone. Without Ren by her side, the girl has her mind filled with all the thoughts she never allowed to grow before.And now she must ask who she is when there's no one else to define her
Relationships: Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Renora (RWBY) - Relationship
Series: With Everything that Falls Apart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042812
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	And I Waited For So Long, To Be Where I Belong

Nora has a hard time remembering important stuff when she was younger than the age of six. Her youngest memories are only of the important stuff after everything: how to steal bread without them seeing, how to make people lose track of you, how to keep yourelf warm in the winter. She’s pretty sure at that age, she gained her first scar. It’s still there, on her left hand.

The only memories that hold significance are from after Ren, when she was not alone, when she had someone to warm her, to help hide from Grimm, someone that would dedicate himself to her just as much as she would dedicate herself to him.

And, in retrospect, it was obviously love. When they threw everything away for each other or just hugged for no reason at all, it was love. When her fear of loss became all consuming and Ren held her close through the night, it was love. When he dreamed of his mother and felt like just giving up, but she stood next to him, it was love.

And, being without him for the first time since then, Nora can not avoid the question “who am I? Who am I when there’s no one else to define me?”

The girl felt like she was holding onto millions of fragments. Small details of herself she dared not to let fade, all of it kept so tightly to her chest, so dear and cherished that it was as equally fulfilling as it was scarring—so deeply engraved in her skin but still as vague as that fleeting love. Maybe this was how Oscar felt like.

Nora was tired. She had been for a long time, she realized. But now it was impossible to ignore. After everything they went through, it was just too much. All of this, Ironwood, Salem, the goddamn end of the world. It was just too much.

RWBY, Qrow and Oscar told her about Brunswick Farms, about the endless exhaustion and the terrible feeling that came with it, maybe she was experiencing something similar. Grimm can’t create anything, after all. At best, they just make the worst of us rise and maybe that was something she should think about later.

Now is not the time for this, she’d say to herself every time the thought crossed her mind. Fix this, save Mantle and Atlas, talk to Ren, then you can think about this, let the dread overwhelm you after everyone is safe.

But it should not be- it would not be like that. The question was there, omnipresent and unstoppable, the possible answers devouring her composure like a starving monster. And after ignoring every single fear, all of the signs her brain showed that she was not ok, Nora wonders, as obvious as the answer may be in hindsight, if this imitation of bravery was in itself worthy of being called bravery…

And what would she give up, just to have this one answer.


End file.
